I’m just going to come right out and say it… Samyang’s Nagasaki Jjambbong Instant Noodles are ridiculously delicious. With their surprisingly spicy white broth and well-seasoned, buttery seafood flavor, these are some of the best noodles I have tried this year. No lie. The flavors really are a perfect storm that dance the Calypso in your mouth, forcing you to ingest stroke after stroke of delicious seafood flavor until your belly balloons like a whale. While not the most friendly cup of noodles on your waistline, I’m sure, these noodles will satisfy your ramen cravings with a taste of perfection.
Flavor:
Wow, I can’t get over how delicious the white soup is in this cup of noodles. The seafood flavor is intense, yet clean and balanced. There’s actually quite a lot going on with the flavor of Nagasaki Jjambbong. Upon doing a deep dive into these noodles, I found traces of: squid, carrots, spring onions, habanero peppers, and Cheongyang Gochu (Korean green chili peppers). I’ll bet you’re wondering about the last two ingredients, as I was surprised by them too. The broth is moderately spicy, but the buttery noodles and seafood keep everything in check. This, plus plenty of seasoning and sodium in the broth made a delicious cup of noodles that I couldn’t get enough of. I just kept on shoveling!
Spiciness:
I didn’t expect a ramen with a white soup for its broth to be spicy, but Samyang’s Nagasaki Jjambbong definitely has some heat. I was fairly surprised by this, so I checked the label to see the ingredients. This cup of ramen has both habanero peppers and Korean green chili peppers inside. These noodles won’t liquify your insides, but the combination of these two spices provides a layered level of spiciness that will warm your belly and leave your mouth and throat tingling. I actually really enjoyed the spiciness of these noodles. These are a prime example of when using a moderate level of spice can really improve the overall flavor.
Smell:
Nagasaki Jjambbong has a very clean aroma of seafood about it. It’s not fishy at all and doesn’t smell like weeds that come from the sea. The ramen noodles come out pretty strongly in this one too. The noodles play well with the other fragrances and allow individual ingredients to shine through. I can smell a bit of cooked squid with the spiciness of habanero peppers and Korean green chili peppers in the broth, no problem.
Noodles:
I was initially a bit bummed about this cup having basic ramen noodles instead of something more customized or fancy. However, this is a case where the average ramen noodles really work well with the flavor of the broth. They added a buttery flavor and soft texture to the cup, while helping to transfer some of that scrumptious white soup directly to my taste buds. The cook on the noodles was also absolutely perfect. They ended up soft, but firm, which allowed them to last until the last bite was finished without becoming mushy.
Overall:
I was thrilled by this cup of noodles. Samyang’s Nagasaki Jjambbong is truly in a class of its own. These are my new favorite white soup, seafood flavored noodles. The white broth is a symphony of flavor bursting in your mouth with its salty and buttery seafood flavor mixed with some killer spices. I also never imagined dropping both slices of habanero peppers and Korean varieties of chili peppers in the same cup of noodles. That’s just crazy! However, it all comes together perfectly in unison with the rest of the cup to make, in my opinion, one of the most delicious and balanced cups of noodles I’ve tasted in 2020. And, that’s saying a lot!
Only good things to say about these noodles today. So, what do you guys think? Do you like red soup or white soup? Do you think the spice combination is unique? Let me know in the comments!
If you’re interested in hearing more about instant ramen, check out my on-going series, Noodle Story: An Exploration of Korean Instant Noodles, here on Medium.
